How we interpret and experience the world depends on whether those two brains are working in balance, or whether one is dominant or damaged. That, in turn, shapes the world we live in.

In my dreams, I replayed the vivid experience of removing the brains from tiny skulls and slicing them up. Something about these nightmares was telling me not to continue down this road. Eventually, I mustered the courage to challenge my colleagues: what if the diseases we want to cure, and the answers we want, won’t be found in the mouse brain?

The scientists were astonished by the results: selective noradrenaline release re-wired the connectivity patterns between different brain regions in a way that was extremely similar to the changes observed in humans exposed to acute stress. Networks that process sensory stimuli, such as the visual and auditory center of the brain, exhibited the strongest increase in activity. A similar rise in activity was observed in the amygdala network, which is associated with states of anxiety.